Thoughts on 1 Peter - Day 3

                                          1 Peter 1:9-12

 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.


      What an exciting, yet terrifying time to be alive. It seems like you can't have one without the other. If you want to see amazing movement of the Holy Spirit, expect suffering to be there too. Why, because the devil will combat the real thing. What prophecies are we waiting to see fulfilled? I think mainly of the return of Christ. What happens in Revelation? The Devil rears his ugly head all over end time prophecy. This makes me think that if we are experiencing persecution, we are probably very close to a legitimate move of the Holy Spirit. If we aren't experiencing persecution, Satan is probably not bothered by what we are doing. Possibly no significant kingdom difference is being made.

      We see three possible reasons why they were experiencing persecution and a move of the Spirit. First they were searching the scriptures like their lives depended on it. Peter describes it "intently" and "with great care". When is the last time you mined the scriptures for buried treasure? Do you study the scripture? Do you have tools for studying it? Do you record what you find? Do you even care what it says? Do you memorize it? No wonder we aren't considered a threat to the enemy. Secondly, they lived their lives in the mindset that they weren't serving themselves. Our whole lives are centered around ourselves or our family. We rarely inconvenience ourselves for others. The enemy has us just where he wants us. Lastly, they went out and shared the gospel. When is the last time you shared the gospel with someone? I blew a chance today at the Hospital. I got on the elevator with a custodian who I had never seen before and she asked, "Are you going down?" I answered, "Yes, but someday soon I'm going up." (I know, my kids would groan) She laughed and said, "Me too, I hope." Can you believe I let that slide? Hopefully I will have another chance but it will probably never be that good. Therefore, my life is going well. Satan doesn't have to bother with me.

      Martin Luther was famous for throwing an inkwell at Satan. Crazy? No! He was operating in the power of the Spirit and God was going to change history through him. The Devil isn't omnipresent but he was there that day because Luther was making a difference. Are you? Am I?

       Lord, bring about revival first of all in my heart and then may it spill over to the world around me. May Satan see me as a troublemaker. Amen